No less than ten years have gone by since we could feel the delight of new work from The Tea Party, the Canadian rock band with exotic flavours that earned well-deserved respect and success since the nineties, especially in their home country Canada and Australia, with seven jubilant, praised studio albums. Roughly one can speak of a band influenced by Led Zeppelin with a masterly baritone voice that resulted in manifold comparisons with Jim Morrison (The Doors). However, after ’Seven Circles’ (2004 – in Europe 2005) it became silent around the band and Jeff Martin (vocals, guitars), Stuart Chatwood (bass, keyboards) and drummer Jeff Burrows went separate ways for new challenges.

The reunion was announced in 2011 and initially it only resulted in concert tours. In 2012 we could enjoy the DVD ‘Live From Australia: The Reformation Tour 2012’. But now we have ‘The Ocean At The End’ and that is a brilliant album. The band started the writing process in the current habitat of vocalist Jeff Martin in Byron Bay, Australia and continued this creative mission in their original home base of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Producer David Bottrill (Rush, Peter Gabriel, Tool) joined them and with ten brand new compositions, one cover and a hidden track, it means a nearly one hour trip through our beloved sound, the one that once put The Tea Party on the world music map. Most of all it is a firm rocking record that brims with joy of playing together. The electronic influences of the time of ‘Transmission’ are fortunately absent, and from start to finish a timeless, genuine vibe reigns. Mystical, bits of romanticism and above all loads of passion.

In opener ‘‘The L.o.C’ we find a conversant rocking band with the charismatic, dark brown voice of front man Jeff Martin. Guitar skills are fervent, but it is a bit psychedelic as well. The Led Zeppelin influences pop up in ‘The Black Sea’ with its undercurrent of menacing, storytelling chants. The oriental atmosphere prevails in ‘Cypher’ in which exotic instrumental layers join in and instantly awake visions of water pipes and ethnic flavours. ‘The Maker’ sounded quite familiar to me from the very outset and now I found out that it is a song from Daniel Lanois (also Canadian) and Brian Eno. The relax atmosphere reminds me of Bruce Springsteen and U2… not that odd since Lanois has produced some U2 albums at that time. ‘Black Roses’ happens to be a contemplative song with acoustic guitars at the beginning in the vein of folk-like Zeppelin, but it also includes very compelling vocal lines that create a sultry atmosphere. Then we go to ‘Brazil’ with protest on the FIFA World Cup 2014. One can hear a guest contribution of Aline Morales on percussion, adding an ethnic zest. Oriental influences reign again in ‘The 11th Hour’, as if Jim Morrison sings in Led Zeppelin. Well, we are talking about the Zep in ‘Kashmir’ of course. But the trio also rocks as hell, simple and free, not every song has to be profound. Put the seats aside during the swinging ‘Submission’ and the Elvis imitation ‘The Cass Corridor’ with harmonica, but on the other hand the latter one seems a kind of ode to MC5 too (‘Kick Out The Jams’). Yet the best still has to come. The solemn ‘Water’s On Fire’ is already an introvert taster, but with occluding track ‘The Ocean At The End’ the band really cuts loose. Not in heaviness, but in giving you goose-bumps. Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) is guesting on flute, but it is mainly the charismatic sung sentence ‘My love is a postcard that I send’ and the incredibly magical guitar solo that shows us heaven. Here the band really surpasses itself and furthermore they put us in reveries in new age soaring things to recover from that kick during a hidden track. This is top notch class we considered lost for a long time!!!